The question of specialization is a hard one. The lasers have been serving me well, but I miss the PPCs - and I love mobility... ... I suppose I'd prefer to be more versatile in any mobile Mech and take the jumping path.

October 23, 3038
Beta-One approaches the dropship - it's landed in mountainous terrain. The dropship is a Condor-class - a lightly armed aerodyne, with a PPC and LRM bay in the nose, and autocannons on the wings. A couple of symbolic lasers cover the rear arc. It's primarily a light tank and infantry carrier, although, given the severe snow storm and rapidly accumulating snow, I don't think we'll be seeing any of the infantry. We do see a swarm of light tanks though - about twenty, a mixture of hovertanks and ground-bound vehicles, as well as several VTOLs straining against the weather. There are also three heavy mechs - two Archers and a Jagermech.

The liaison pipes up and says that she's got two Transit-class fighters coming in to back us up, "in case you're not as good as your reputation." Looks like the allied Transits will have some dogfighting to do, as two Defender-class conventional fighters are closing in.

Personally, Zarathud is just relieved to not have to listen to Zenn7's ongoing lecture about particle beam dissipation ratios.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We start taking symbolic LRM and AC/2 fire from the heavy mechs, but it's just that: symbolic.

Meanwhile, Moley opens up with the Thunderbolt's LRM launcher and absolutely shreds the treads on an approaching Scorpion tank, immobilizing it.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Predictably, one of the VTOLs can't handle the driving winds and crashes.

The Maultier hover APC in the middle is something that we haven't seen before. As a combatant, it's complete crap, having only a single SRM/2 launcher in the front. But, it is capable of carrying a whole platoon of infantry, which isn't bad for a 15-ton hovercraft, and it's damn fast at 9/14. Not that that's relevant right now.

Zenn7 fires PPCs at an approaching Vedette, blowing through the right side and immobilizing it in place. Zarathud's aim at the Maultier is spoiled by an LRM salvo from a Maxim, but it's little more than pockmarks on the armor.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

A second Peregrine crashes. I don't know, maybe it would have been better not to launch fragile VTOLs during a major snowstorm.

A few hovercraft zip in while their heavies continue to pour on the ineffective LRM and AC/2 fire from long range. Zenn7 blows away a Vedette with three PPC shots, while Zarathud plants three PPC shots on a Maxim as it keeps firing back, settling the hovercraft to the ground with an armor breach and skirt damage. Zarathud's mech is hit by a few LRMs from the Maxim, but that's the last we'll here from those guys. LordMortis takes a few autocannon rounds and LRMs (actually, 12 of those), but armor holds up.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 blasts a Scimitar hovertank with a pair of PPC shots, but its armor miraculously holds. LordMortis absorbs a few more LRMs from an Archer and an SRM from the Maultier, then deftly steps aside as a Saladin charges in and takes it apart with lasers and SRMs. He makes a disgusted face as the hovercraft's AC/20 shot flies about thirty meters to his left, then realizes that it was actually aiming at the liaison's Vindicator - it was actually a pretty good shot, taking off the right torso armor and knocking the mech down.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Both sets of aircraft arrive. One of the MAC Transit hits an Archer with a single laser and takes several LRMs for its trouble. Which, given the local weather conditions, causes the aerospace fighter to spiral out of control. To his credit, he crashes into the Archer. Both the mech and the aircraft survive, although the odds of the Transit remaining intact subsequently are not so good.

The other one dogfights with one of the conventional fighters but doesn't achieve any meaningful results.

On the ground, LordMortis appears to have gotten surrounded by light tanks, but it's actually a trap. What happens in reality is that Zenn7 evaporates a Galleon, while Zarathud zaps a Maultier, taking it out. LordMortis takes a couple of lasers, but destroys the other Galleon with a short burst from the AC/20.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Having made a good dent in the light tank population, we go "up and over". It's not very effective, though. The lighter enemy units scatter away from LordMortis, so he has no choice but to fire on an incoming Defender aircraft, which dive bombs and drops several HE bombs on the Victor, resulting in severe damage to the engine shielding. It costs the little guy though, as he's disintegrated by an AC/20 burst. LordMortis is just about to turn around and start backing up when an LRM from a dinky little Scorpion tank hits the center torso again. The Victor's engine can't take it any more and shuts down, the mech toppling over. Most of the rest of the enemy units take the grounded Transit apart. I guess they didn't want a free aerospace fighter.

Moley peppers a Galleon with LRMs, breaching armor and knocking off enough wheels that the light tank can't move any more.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The liaison zaps a Scimitar hovertank with a small laser as it continues circling around, pelting us. The lucky shot goes through the left side and takes out the engine, causing the hapless vehicle to gently coast into a hillside. Zarathud zaps a Scorpion tank with a pair of PPC shots but armor holds up. Moley engages the nearby Vedette, scoring several laser hits, one of which fuses the turret to the chassis. The return fire of a single machine gun burst isn't too effective.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

The remaining enemy helicopter "lands", using its rotor as a ski pole.

Zenn7 eats several LRMs from an Archer and a Scorpion tank, then uses the time to crack open an SRM Carrier with three PPC shots. Zarathud zaps the Archer in the leg with a PPC, but armor holds up. Moley chases down the Vedette as it tries to get away and lights it up with a medium laser. Specifically, the fuel tank.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

We move to engage the Archers at close range, as we've had just about enough of these ceaseless LRM salvos. Zenn7 blasts one with a pair of PPC shots, knocking it over, while Zarathud provides overwatch and zaps a Hetzer (though the wheeld tank remains intact).

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 strays a little too close to the dropship and takes a few LRMs from its nose-mounted LRM/15 launcher. He's focused on the nearby Archer, blasting it with three PPC shots and removing all armor from the left arm. The Archer's partner fires both its LRM launchers at Zenn7, hitting with 32 missiles and taking out the right torso PPC. Zarathud stays on the Hetzer, breaching its front armor. The crew shows a disinclination to keep fighting. Moley stomps on a Galleon as it tries to get a close shot at Zenn7, crushing the light tank.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's Awesome staggers under the continued LRM fire as his right arm PPC blows out. He does deliver a pair of shots to the nearby Archer's center torso though. Zarathud goes in for the melee strike, nearly breaking the Archer's leg off and disabling an LRM Scorpion with PPCs on the way. Moley adds some firepower to the enemy Archer as well, but the 70 tonner remains standing defiantly.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's last PPC hits one of the Archer's LRM ammo bins, but it was empty. We continue exchanging weapons fire, but the rest of it is just armor being slowly peeled off. Moley does crush a Vedette though.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 backs up, and his mech's right section takes a beating. However, he takes the left arm off the Archer he's been targeting. Zarathud breaks northwest, hitting the Jagermech with three PPCs. To our mechwarrior's great surprise, a single hit from a PPC turns a Jagermech's armor either red or disintegrates it entirely. The Awesome also spares a small laser for the nearby Scorpion tank, cutting through the armor and destroying the vehicle's sensors.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Zenn7's target Archer has had enough and begins retreating. The remaining enemy Defender pings Zarathud with a few LRMs. Zenn7 switches targets to the Jagermech, peeling armor off its left leg as it pitter-patters away at Zarathud with light autocannon fire. Zarathud scores two PPC hits on the remaining Archer, including one head shot. Moley jumps in next to the Jagermech, firing lasers and kicking, which results in the Jagermech having very little armor left anywhere.

Round 15:

Spoiler:

The snow's really piling up now. The reduced mobility means the fight becomes a slug-fest. Zenn7 takes advantage of the Jagermech's low armor to blast it in the right leg, burning out a pair of actuators as it breaches Zarathud's right torso armor, along with the remaining Archer's LRMs. Our second Awesome returns fire, hitting the Archer with three PPCs and reducing its armor to critical levels. Moley zaps the Jagermech with a medium laser, disabling its leg and sending it to the ground, where it crunches an AC/5.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

The guy in the Jagermech apparently decides that he's had enough and powers down, climbing out.

The allied Transit makes a strafing run on the Condor as its busy firing its LRMs at Moley, who's gotten stuck in the deep snow. The dropship loses a medium laser to an AC/20 burst and one of the Transit's lasers hits something sensitive, as we see a giant plume of flame come out the main thruster. We focus fire on the remaining Archer - while Zenn7 and Zarathud keep it messed up with PPCs, Moley rakes laser fire across the front. The mech staggers, throwing off most of the Thunderbolt's lasers, but one sweeps over the damaged head section. The Archer falls over, motionless.

At this point, there are exactly two militia tanks left that are combat effective, and the Condor has ceased fire. We allow the mobile enemy units to withdraw, and call in the salvage crews. As they work, there's a little chuckling at the helicopter graveyard to the north of the actual battlefield:

Spoiler:

Since McCarron's Armored Cavalry loves their tanks, we claim the beheaded Archer, the Jagermech, and the dropship. It's not exactly in the best shape, and we don't really need a dropship that carries infantry and light armor (well, maybe infantry, it's always pretty crowded on those Unions), so we immediately offer to sell it to the MAC. 134M C-Bills later, they've got a slightly beat-up dropship. I'd say it's fair compensation for the loss of their aerospace fighter. The liaison makes a big deal about the fact that, technically, one of their aircraft disabled the dropship, but the obvious counter is that without our mechs, those two Transits would have gotten chewed up. In fact, they did take 50% casualties.

The Jagermech is complete crap, but you never know, with better tech, we may be able to upgrade the chassis in the future.

No injuries, but Beta-One's mechs will require quite a bit of work. The techs aren't even sure they *can* fix the engine on the Victor.

Gamma-One makes contact with the local forces blocking the rendezvous with the MAC. The MAC guys have already engaged and destroyed a mech and some assorted militia, but we're still up against two lances of medium mechs (two Enforcers, two Centurions, two Griffins, a Dervish and a Stinger), a reinforced company of "improvised" armor and industtrial mechs, and a large amount of infantry.

Beta-One is technically in a position to reinforce, but:
LordMortis' Victor is being driven back to base on the back of a flatbed truck.
Zenn7's Awesome has one PPC left and no armor on the right side of the mech at all. Or the left side.
Zarathud's Awesome is in the yellow, except for an armor breach in the right torso.
Moley's Thunderbolt is mostly in the green.

So the main decision to make here is whether or not Zarathud comes with Moley to back up Gamma-One.

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein"When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. - Nixon"I don't stand by anything." - Trump“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867

October 24, 3038
Moley and Zarathud march overnight to rendezvous with Gamma-One, while Zenn7 keeps an eye on salvage operations. McCarron's Armored Cavalry justifies their reputation as an armor unit - the force that Gamma-One has been sent to help has two Bulldogs, an SRM Carrier and a Behemoth. If any infantry get even remotely close to those vehicles, they are dead meat. Which means Gamma-One just needs to destroy the tanks and mechs. Beta-One reports a 90-second ETA, by which point the battle may or may not be over. Guess we'll see.

There's not as much snow here, it's just hard-scrabble uneven terrain with no plant life whatsoever.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We advance in formation. Our goal is to get to that ridge to the west, we'll be able to use it for cover against enemy long range fire. Weapons fire is symbolic - a PPC comes flying overhead, while Xwraith snaps off a barely-aimed shot with the ER laser.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

A collection of militia units - "improvised" tanks, plus industrial and "historical" mechs. The MAC SRM Carrier gets a good piece of an enemy Dervish, while Scrub blows away a technical mounting an SRM launcher.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Cylus moves north to engage the Dervish, breaching its left torso armor with some LRMs. The Dervish disables the allied SRM Carrier. Xwraith and Scrub continue working on the technicals, each destroying one with an ER Laser and PPC respectively. It's not much, but the less anklebiters we have shooting at us later as we fight the serious opposition, the better.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Cylus moves into medium laser range of the Dervish, in an effort to preserve the Behemoth. The guys in the SRM Carrier have already bailed out, the cowardly little bastards. Can't really blame them too much, though. The Dervish takes a large laser to the right leg, breaching armor. This distracts the mechwarrior long enough that it eats an AC/10 burst to the right torso. With no armor there to speak of, the rounds go internal and hit the ammo bin, detonating it.

The allied Bulldogs take a beating, losing bits of treads and weapons systems, but one of them does manage to breach armor on an APC before getting its turret taken off by "small arms" fire. The other one just suffers a turret lock. Way to be useless, guys.

Hyena destroys another technical with a burst from the AC/10, while Scrub hits a Buster Haulermech in the leg with a PPC. This particular Buster is equipped with a single PPC.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Davion mechs, at least the lighter, faster ones, are in range. The allied Bulldog blows the right arm off the Buster - it doesn't matter, as the PPC is in the torso, but it's something. The Buster returns fire, putting a PPC through the front of the tank and it out of its misery. Hyena uses the opportunity to put a PPC shot into the Buster's right torso, taking the PPC out. The industrialmech is now completely unarmed and bugs out.

Xwraith takes out another technical with the ER laser, while Hyena takes the head off a Crosscut Loggermech with an AC/10 burst (that particular variant mounting a flamer and chainsaw and closing in). Having no better targets, Cylus picks off infantry, blowing away about eight guys from a jump platoon.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Xwraith starts taking fire, armor absorbing a PPC and a large laser. Cylus destroys an APC with lasers, but other than that, this round doesn't go in our favor exactly.

Round 8:
[video feed damaged]
Scrub and Hyena concentrate fire on a Toro (kind of an old design with a large laser and two SRM/2 launchers, ground-bound), but fail to inflict any serious damage. Cylus knocks the right arm off the nearby Stinger and uses lasers to cut a nearby APC to ribbons. Since the right arm contains the bug mech's only real weapon (a medium laser), the enemy mechwarrior decides to retreat immediately.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Moley and Zarathud arrive, while a single Vedette arrives to help the Davion guys. Our reinforcements are probably more substantial in this case. Moley gets right into the action, while Zarathud hangs back.

Cylus engages a Griffin, taking off strips of armor, but takes a little bit of a beating, small arms fire and SRMs taking out an actuator on the right arm. The Grasshopper has to take a knee to keep from falling over as well. Not a big deal, the right arm only has a medium laser.

Scrub gets close enough to fire SRMs at an infantry platoon. The trick is that she loaded up *inferno* SRMs. Xwraith fires at a "Killjoy" ordnance transport, taking it out with medium lasers.

Moley takes a couple of ineffectual SRMs, then breaks off the Powerman's leg at the hip with a kick, while firing at a Griffin.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

That Toro is starting to get pretty annoying, as it runs over to ping Scrub's Warhammer with the large laser and some SRMs. Scrub busies herself by machinegunning a platoon of infantry. Hyena wrinkles his nose in disgust, as a lot of that infantry gets on his mech. Cylus takes aim at the Toro, destroying its right arm and blowing out a couple of heat sinks in the torso. The Grasshopper then follows up with a kick, cracking the left leg. On the way down, the Toro's other leg cracks as well.

Zarathud blasts away at a Griffin to the west of our improvised strong point, removing its center and left torso armor while blowing out a heat sink and a jump jet. Hyena takes advantage of the enemy mech's weakness by planting a PPC shot in its left torso. It's a nasty hit - the arm goes flying off and the damage travels to the engine, causing cracks to develop in the shielding.

To the north, Moley scores a few laser hits on the Griffin as it takes the high ground in front of the Thunderbolt. The enemy mech delivers a solid kick, but Moley brings up the right arm to block, armor flaking off of both mechs. Xwraith takes up the slack by pointing the ER laser at the downed Powerman and removing its gyro.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Scrub continues her reign of terror over infantry, incinerating an entire platoon of jump troopers with a spread of inferno SRMs. Her, Hyena and Zarathud pelt a distant Centurion with SRMs, taking out significant chunks of armor. She takes a few shots from some infantry that have avoided her machine gun firing arcs, although Hyena takes the time to crush a few of them.

Xwraith and Cylus move forward to take advantage of a slight pullback. Xwraith, as an afterthought, fires LRMs at the damaged Centurion, and is surprised when the resulting explosion is a lot larger than expected. Seems some of the LRMs found the enemy mech's missile load. Between Xwraith and Moley, the enemy Griffin takes a pounding and drops down to a knee, but still loses the left arm to Xwraith's boot.

Having lost their militia screen, and starting to take damage of their own, the rest of the enemy mechs (along with a substantial amount of infantry and a single APC) pull back. That poor Vedette didn't even get a chance to fire a shot.

We kicked the opposing force's ass for sure, with our units taking very little damage, but the MAC units are in bad shape. We wind up having to stand guard for the better part of a day while salvage and tech crews get out there and conduct field repairs on the SRM Carrier and Behemoth. The Bulldogs are irrecoverable. As a gesture of good will (and because it's complete crap), we let the MAC have all the salvage. Their salvage crews continually give our mechs dirty looks as they work. At least the good part is that they have to wear breathers anyway, so the smell probably isn't *too* bad.

Scrub reports being extremely happy with the Warhammer's performance, both in the anti-infantry role and in general. Hyena looks at her with an expression consisting of a mixture of mild disgust and envy - scrubbing the Striker off takes almost as long as replacing the armor plating.

October 25, 3038
While Beta and Gamma-One are out pounding militia units to scrap, Alpha-One works with MAC units to set up an ambush. The plan is pretty simple: lure the designated target towards a picturesque mountain town. Our mechs will be powered down in ambush positions and open fire at the appropriate time. The MAC units will be waiting outside of the town and help seal the deal. They're pretty tough customers: a pair of Demolishers (making it 4x AC/20s), a Manticore and an LRM-packing Bulldog. We've also set up a pair of minefields in places the hostiles are likely to move to.

As the sun comes down and the snow starts piling up, Alpha-One's more mobile elements buzz the hostiles then retreat into town. The enemy commander and his garrison are a swarm of light tanks and hovercraft (plus two light mechs)... backed up by a nearly full assault lance. Two Victors and an Awesome. Yikes. The commander himself appears to be driving in a Bulldog equipped with 2x AC/2s and 2x SRM/4 launchers. Not exactly a distinguished vehicle, but he's probably got a good communications suite in there. And also it's less likely to be targeted than something fancy. If we didn't already know he was in there.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

It doesn't actually work out like we want it to. The MAC guys come in way too early and the Victors get the drop on their Demolishers. The two assault tanks trundle around, trying to deal with the Victors, exchanging AC/20 fire. Both Victors wind up on the ground, one with sparks coming out of the left arm and right leg. A little piece of crap Scimitar hovertank fires its autocannon and launches SRMs at one of the Demolishers. Most of the weapons fire actually misses, but a pair of SRMs hit. Not a problem for a most Demolishers. Except for this one, which explodes. The other one's crew will be taking a lunch break for the next thirty seconds.

Isgrimnur and El Guapo open fire on the target Bulldog, trying to disable it early. El Guapo scores a hit with a PPC while Isgrimnur works on it with the AC/10. The result is an armor breach and the crew being stunned.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Gbasden and El Guapo watch as a Ferret scout helicopter to the south catches a downdraft and crashes into a tree. Good job, numbnuts. Gbasden and El Guapo are getting swarmed, so each of them backs up a little. Gbasden puts two PPCs into a charging Locust, breaching left and center torso armor. Isgrimnur has been engaged by the enemy Awesome, which isn't a particularly fair fight, so he stays out of sight while focusing on the target Bulldog, scoring another hit with the AC/10. Stefan approaches with the remaining armored cav units, trying to rescue the remaining Demolisher.

The second Demolisher is disabled by combined enemy fire, so that effort isn't as successful.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

That damn Bulldog is getting away.

Realistically speaking, no way we're going to capture him *and* beat all these hovercraft plus assault mechs (even though the allied Demolishers got a good piece of the Victors. Our goal right now is to get our mechs clear of the field. Luckily, there's a town we can use to lose the pursuers.

Gbasden zaps a Saladin with a PPC, reducing the hovertank to slag, then hears the 'plink plink plink' of machine gun rounds bouncing off his armor and lets rip with a kick against the adjacent Locust. Some armor peels off the Awesome's leg, but the bug mech crashes to the ground. El Guapo cringes as another Saladin zips up to his mech and fires off an AC/20 round, but that goes wide. The Marauder's streak SRMs bore through the weak armor on the hovertank's left side and injure the crew - the Saladin peels off.

To the southeast, Isgrimnur whiffs his last attempt to disable the Bulldog, while Stefan scores a solid hit on one of the Victors, blowing out a leg-mounted jump jet with LRMs.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

A few hovertanks and a Valkyrie catch up to El Guapo, who disables one of the hovertanks with a medium laser and SRM salvo, although his armor takes a beating from the SRMs. He follows up with a kick to the Valkyrie's right leg, cracking the hip joint and forcing the lighter mech to a knee, while Gbasden takes the time to squash one of the pursuing Galleon tanks (the less said about the three whiffed PPC shots the better).

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Valkyrie gets up. Eventually. Not for long, though. El Guapo fires lasers and streak SRMs, with a PPC shot as an afterthought - a pair of SRMs do achieve lock, but are kind of screwy - one goes for a leg actuator, the other goes directly for the mech's head, which simply separates from the rest of the mech.

The allied Manticore is disabled by a Striker firing SRMs, causing it to slip its treads. That's before the adjacent Victor cracks through the armor with SRMs and takes out the engine. Stefan unloads LRMs and lasers on the enemy mech, but even with multiple armor breaches, a Victor is a tough customer.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Gbasden, having nothing better to shoot at as a Galleon scoots underfoot, blasts a Darter scout car (it's a little piece of crap with a machinegun), the left side disappearing under a PPC shot. El Guapo avoids AC/20 shot from another Saladin, then pumps lasers and SRMs into it, breaching armor and damaging air ducts. The hovertank opts to retreat.

Stefan does his best to fire at the Victor, but is unable to hit. The enemy mech and its Striker buddy work on the remaining allied unit, a Bulldog, which loses armor in multiple locations and begins frantically driving away, though not before delivering enough damage to the Victor that the 80-ton mech falls over again.

Gbasden continues to move around among some trees, baiting a Galleon into stomping range, at which point he crushes it with the Awesome's foot.

Isgrimnur is being chased by the bulk of the enemy forces, so he simply jump jets out of line of sight.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur can't resist taking on a Condor which separates itself from its heavy support, and disables it with an AC/10 burst and some lasers.

The rest of our weapons fire is less than stellar.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Aaand there's the Victor. Isgrimnur has never mashed the jump jet pedal that fast in his life. He even manages to disable a Striker that tries to corner him on the way down.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Gbasden continues retreating as a Demolisher chases him down, supported by long-range fire from Saracens. He does inflict a PPC hit on the tank, but it just melts some armor.

El Guapo damages a Saracen as he comes around a corner, but fails to do anything too critical, and same goes for Stefan as he breaks east. At least that Victor won't be able to chase him down.

Isgrimnur's Victor buddy is still on the case though.

Round 10:
We continue retreating, although El Guapo squashes the nearby Saracen after pummeling it with lasers and SRMs, while Gbasden damages the Demolisher's treads, making it impossible for it to continue pursuit.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Gbasden finally takes the Demolisher out with a PPC through the left side. His mech heats up a bit, moving sluggishly, but it was worth it. El Guapo's streak SRMs home in on a Vedette's right side, blowing right through the armor to take out the engine and injure crew members.

At this point, the enemy units are in a bit of a pickle. If they continue pursuing us through the town, we will eventually pick them off, one by one. So, their assault mechs and the remaining screening units back away, following their commander.

The MAC guys aren't too happy with us - one of their Demolishers is totaled, while the other three vehicles are going to require at least a week in the shop. And the salvage is, again, a bunch of crap. The Valkyrie, by far the best intact unit remaining, is missing a head and will require at least a week of work, so we hand it all off.

Miraculously, the techs get Zarathud and Zenn7's Awesomes put back together before the next set of sorties.

Bad news: the Victor's fusion engine is beyond repair, even our elite senior techs can't do anything with it. Since we don't usually carry around spare mech reactors (they're heavy, and are about a third of the cost of the mech), we're SOL.

LordMortis, you'll need to pick a replacement mech. The options are:

Orion: AC/10, SRM/4, LRM/15, 2x MLas. As fast as a Victor, but no jump jets.
Grasshopper: Laser vomit with jump jets (and a single LRM/5 launcher). Identical mobility to the Victor. Cylus loves his.
Atlas: It's an Atlas. Best part about it is that it's got an AC/20.
Stalker STK-3F: LRM/10s, SRM/6s, large and medium lasers. The kind of mech whose sound track is the "fat guy tuba" piece. You've used this one before. Since then, it's been driven by at least one other mechwarrior, who either retired or was splattered, you don't really recall.
A "brand new" Hunchback: We salvaged this one a couple of contracts ago and once we fixed it up it's been sitting in the Jumbo ever since, gathering dust.

The liaison isn't terribly happy with the losses the MAC took.

"However", she says, "you may redeem yourselves. The individual you were tasked with capturing is still in the area. Find him, and bring him to me." She stares down our command staff with an iron gaze.

"The other order of business is that, despite your incompetence, we are ready to carry out the phase of our operation which the arrival of the Rangers disrupted. We'll need three things from you. One, several small cargo items must be delivered to the landing zone where we're staging one of our dropships. Two, the landing zone must be kept clear of hostiles while the cargo is loaded. Three, we require an airborne escort for our dropship while it moves the cargo."

The nuts and bolts of it is, we've got five missions:
1) Capture local enemy commander (attempt #2)
2) Break through enemy forces while carrying critical cargo (small enough to be carried by a mech)
3) Keep enemy forces busy while whoever is carrying out #2 runs through and gets to the dropship - there are two distinct forces moving on that staging area, so we'll need two lances.
4) Send fliers to escort the dropship (this one's an easy choice).

Also - is it just me, or are 80% of the aircraft casualties the result of the aircraft crashing by itself without taking fire?

We did, but it didn't help much.

And yeah, VTOLs tend to crash a lot - they use the same "skidding" rules as hovercraft and tanks on pavement. Partly it's because the bot doesn't know how to go up or down with them. Normally, you want the VTOL at least at elevation three so that it a) doesn't get punched out by an angry mech and b) doesn't crash into trees or low hills after skidding (both of which are elevation 2).

Orion: AC/10, SRM/4, LRM/15, 2x MLas. As fast as a Victor, but no jump jets.
Grasshopper: Laser vomit with jump jets (and a single LRM/5 launcher). Identical mobility to the Victor. Cylus loves his.
Atlas: It's an Atlas. Best part about it is that it's got an AC/20.
Stalker STK-3F: LRM/10s, SRM/6s, large and medium lasers. The kind of mech whose sound track is the "fat guy tuba" piece. You've used this one before. Since then, it's been driven by at least one other mechwarrior, who either retired or was splattered, you don't really recall.
A "brand new" Hunchback: We salvaged this one a couple of contracts ago and once we fixed it up it's been sitting in the Jumbo ever since, gathering dust.

The AC20 is kinda my thing. I think I liked the mobility of the Victor... after you put me in it but I guess we can trade mobility for a bubblehead and an LRM 20.

Will I get bitchy if another Victor comes up and I "have to downgrade"

I do love me a hunchback, but I think I've gotten accustomed to the big stompiness of the Victor. It must be Awesome envy.

The Victor can be fixed once we get back to Outreach and buy a new engine for it.

Gauss Rifles become available in 3040 by "special order", in 3045 you can buy them at the corner store. Currently, the only way to get a Gauss rifle is if we luck out and face an enemy unit with one. And they're pretty rare.

The nuts and bolts of it is, we've got five missions:
1) Capture local enemy commander (attempt #2)
2) Break through enemy forces while carrying critical cargo (small enough to be carried by a mech)
3) Keep enemy forces busy while whoever is carrying out #2 runs through and gets to the dropship - there are two distinct forces moving on that staging area, so we'll need two lances.
4) Send fliers to escort the dropship (this one's an easy choice).

1 - lets give Alpha1 a chance to redeem themselves (unless this is more of a scouting mission, in which case, Delta 1, you're up).
2 - Gamma1 - run with the ball (if we need something lighter/faster, swap Beta 2 below with Gamma 1 here)
3 - Beta 1 & 2 will run interference.
4 - this is an easy choice? because it doesn't really matter who we send or there's an obvious choice I am missing?

4 - this is an easy choice? because it doesn't really matter who we send or there's an obvious choice I am missing?

The former - I'm not really expecting anyone to have any kind of understanding of what aircraft are appropriate for what roles (hell, I barely know what I'm doing myself when it comes to aerospace combat).

4 - this is an easy choice? because it doesn't really matter who we send or there's an obvious choice I am missing?

The former - I'm not really expecting anyone to have any kind of understanding of what aircraft are appropriate for what roles (hell, I barely know what I'm doing myself when it comes to aerospace combat).

Areospace from what I vaguely recall (it's been 2+ decades since I looked at the rules, never played it), didn't really seem like dogfighting type rules, so being lighter/nimbler wasn't as much of an advantage as one might think. Not even sure it was as helpful as being in a light/fast mech where you can get all kinds of bonuses from movement as well as great positioning. Once you rule that out, all you've got is the need for enough speed to be able to catch your target. Then, if all you have are big targets to shoot (no infantry - use special weapons stuff), seems like heavier=better.

October 31, 3038
After some discussion, we decide that Delta-One is the optimal lance to carry random cargo containers through enemy lines. Each of those mechs has arms - the Wolverine and Ostroc even have arms without weapons mounted on them. The good news is that we're carrying only two containers, each about 2.5 tons. They're like mech-sized briefcases! Madmarcus and Paingod get the containers initially. If need be (due to missing arms or whatever), Freyland and Archinerd can sub in.

Looking at the weather forecast, we see that there's some serious rain squalls coming our way at night. This'll make it just about impossible to shoot anything, but it'll also make it almost impossible to shoot our guys. Or chase them. In other words, perfect conditions for running a blockade. Sensors show that the enemy force includes two and a half lances of light and medium jump-capable mechs, along with a few hovercraft.

The liaison, and an accompanying lance of MAC tanks see us off, but are unable to continue through the rough, muddy terrain.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Just to give an idea of how difficult it is to hit anything under these weather and lighting conditions.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Here come the jumpers, trying to get in close enough that they can hit us. Unlikely for now - our guys can barely hit them. Freyland actually manages to zap the nearby VTOL with a laser, taking a little bit off one of the rotors.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Peregrine VTOL decides to leave. Perhaps involuntarily. But really, driving rainstorm with gusty winds is no place for a VTOL with a damaged rotor, so it's for the best for him.

Phew, that's a lot of militia guys out to the west. Too bad visibility is near zilch, so weapons fire doesn't actually hit anything.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Freyland's karaoke humming increases in mood and tempo as a salvo of LRMs from the Quickdraw lands on a nearby Maxim, causing it to dip low and transfer a large amount of mud through its air intakes.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Freyland's LRM launcher continues to score hits, this time pinging a few missiles off a Prowler.

Round 6-7:

Spoiler:

We're just about clear of the mass of enemy tanks, and the mechs show a reluctance to pursue us closely enough to inflict any damage. Especially after Freyland zaps the nearby Assassin with a laser, removing most of its left leg armor.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

We jump across a river, which effectively leaves the tanks and ground-bound enemy mechs behind. Freyland gives the Assassin a parting gift in the form of a pair of lasers to the left arm, which fuse the enemy mech's shoulder joint.

Not a bad run - we didn't take a single hit. Didn't really inflict much damage, either, but that wasn't the point. Delta-One delivers the mech-sized briefcases to the rendezvous point, where an irate Capellan waves them off as the dropship starts warming its engines up. Madmarcus shrugs and orders Delta-One to move and assist one of the other lances we've got holding off incoming Davion militia forces. Since they're making a beeline for the dropship, once it lifts off, we'll be headed back to base as well.

How much are we pissing off Davion with this contract? They have tech we want so want to make sure we don't get too far off their good side. Otherwise, getting that LBX autocannon/ammo might be a LOT more challenging.

Right now, we're firmly in the "it's just business" category with FedCom. We've specifically avoided declaring any allegiance, and, other than a few incidents (and one contract breach which went more or less in our favor after Comstar arbitration), have a reputation for completing our contracts once we sign them. So, unless we start committing war crimes, we should be good.

November 1, 3038
As the Capellan dropship loads up its cargo and warms its engines up, Gamma-One and Beta-One take up positions to the north and south of if, aiming to hold off incoming Davion and militia forces long enough for it to lift off.

Gamma-One's position will be heavily reinforced by McCarron's Armored Cavalry - they're sending a light-medium mech lance. Plus, an artillery battery will provide fire support. Not to mention Delta-One is close enough to join the fight.

Beta-One is getting a bit hung out to dry, but we scramble a flight of aircraft from our dropship landing zone to back them up, loaded up with cluster bombs. They are the first to engage incoming enemy forces, with the battle taking place at dawn. They're facing a lance of heavy mechs (Ostsol, two Warhammers, and a Crusader), backed up by the standard swarm of militia units and a few light mechs.

The interception point is an industrial complex, and our goal here is to prevent enough of the enemy units from getting past us so that they can't overwhelm the dropship's defenders.

LordMortis complains a little bit about the Atlas being slow and not having jump jets. Nobody's figured out how to fit jump jets on an Atlas yet, so, sorry. At least we've modified it to ditch the dumb rear-firing lasers. We don't have enough mechs to cover every road, so we'll just have to do our best and hope we squash enough of them that the MAC guys can take care of the rest.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Moley pokes out from an alley and fires a large laser and LRM salvo at a Condor (the Davion variant - two AC/2s instead of a single AC/5). The laser goes wide, but the missiles perforate the front of the skirt and the hovertank takes a dive. The Thunderbolt takes a full salvo of LRMs from a Saracen, while LordMortis absorbs an AC/2 round.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Here come the hovercraft. Zenn7 disables a Maxim as it closes in, PPCs shorting out fans and blasting chunks off the sides and turrets. Zarathud, LordMortis and Moley meet a wave of hovercraft coming down the middle. Zarathud's PPCs punches a hole in the front of a Scimitar, causing it to plow into a wall as it tries to avoid LordMortis, who fires the AC/20 and medium lasers at its Saracen partner, disabling that vehicle as well. This creates a little bit of a road block. Moley refuses to be left out of the fun and punts a Pegasus as it zips by, flipping it over.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

An Ostsol, backed up by a pair of tanks, moves in and zaps Zenn7 with a large laser. The Awesome returns fire, severely damaging a Hunter support tank's treads. Zenn7's mech is buffeted by LRMs as well, but he remains upright. Moley locks up the turret on a Vedette, fusing it to the main hull with a laser, while Zarathud scores some hits on a Saracen but fails to inflict any critical damage. And the less said about LordMortis' shooting this round the better.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Our aircraft zip in, having the perfect angle to make attack runs down their respective roads.

Zenn7 takes a beating, eating two PPCs from a Warhammer and multiple lasers from the Ostsol. His fire against the target Hunter proves ineffective as a result.

LordMortis surprises the Crusader and Warhammer by coming down a side street. The first thing he does is aim the AC/20 at the Warhammer's head and let off a burst. The enemy mech rapidly falls over, spurting weapons fire everywhere. Noting some missile impacts on his rear armor, as well as a light impact on his left ankle, he whaps the Javelin in the right torso with an Atlas fist.

Moley moves to support Zenn7, firing at a Manticore tank, but our Lightning drops some cluster bombs from above. The Thunderbolt barely has time to step back as the Manticore is annihilated in an ammo explosion. A Vedette is blown away by the cluster bombs as well, and a Hetzer takes heavy damage. Hopefully nobody was in those buildings, as the cluster bombs aren't exactly precision weapons and a lot of them impact the surrounding buildings.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 backs up, as his mech reports heavy damage. A Dervish gets in behind him, hitting with a laser and a couple of SRMs, but failing to breach armor.

Zarathud fires at an escaping Galleon tank, blasting through its armor and severely reducing its mobility. Even if it can go somewhere, it's not going to be combat effective.

LordMortis turns around briefly to blow away a Scorpion tank with an AC/20 burst as it bings an AC/5 round off his right arm. Moley stomps on a nearby Hetzer after unloading at it with weapons fire.

Our Sabre takes some serious damage from Crusader and LRM Carrier-launched LRMs as it flies over a few enemy units to drop bombs, but its bombs are on target, crippling two tanks and destroying an LRM Carrier outright. The Crusader wobbles a little under the bombs' force, but stays upright. The Lucifer's bombing run is a lot less successful, and most of the bombs just randomly go flying around the complex.

It looks like a couple of hovertanks, an Ostscout and at least one helicopter are going to clear the field, but that shouldn't be a significant problem.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Galleons get away from Zarathud, but a Scorpion tank does not, getting melted down to slag by three PPC shots. LordMortis gets a treat as he "sneaks up" behind an SRM Carrier, firing the AC/20 into the back of the tank. It'd be pretty sweet already, but the detonation of four tons of SRM ammo makes for even better fireworks.

To the north, our Lightning pulls a sweet split-S (basically, you turn the aircraft upside down, then pull "up" so you turn around really quickly), then gets another shot on the LRM Carrier shooting at it helplessly, taking it apart with the AC/20.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 finally blows away the Hunter he's pumped so many PPC shots into, while Zarathud actually manages to melt the armor off another Galleon as it tries to get away. Moley inflicts severe damage on an isolated laser carrier while our aircraft and the Warhammer that just ran by Zenn7 exchange ineffective fire.

The remainder of the enemy force is able to get clear, but they are no longer a threat to the dropship launch site garrison - we destroyed, immobilized or crippled twenty one of their units, and a lot of the rest are either irrelevant lightweight stuff (when compared to what the MAC is fielding) or aren't 100%. As it turns out, they never even engage the dropship, being turned aside by a light artillery barrage.

For salvage, we grab the headless Warhammer, handing everything else to the MAC. We do a brief sweep of the structures that our cluster bombs hit, but don't see any casualties. Just a little property damage.

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein"When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. - Nixon"I don't stand by anything." - Trump“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867

Sure, we can put you in a Warhammer. Your guy is specialized in ballistic weapons, so it'd be slightly sub-optimal if we keep it stock. Maybe we'll come up with a customization that makes it a little more suited to your mechwarrior though. Something involving AC/5s or AC/10s. We'll see. No spare Warhammer heads for now though, so we'll have to wait until we get back to Outreach.

While thinking about mounting autocannons on a Warhammer, Hyena (and the rest of Gamma-One) engage a large mixed force of enemy mechs and light units trying to force their way to the dropship. According to comms traffic, the dropship is almost ready to lift off, so we just need to hold them for a couple of minutes. A lance of MAC mechs is in support, coordinating artillery from a nearby battery, and Delta-One reports that they are thirty seconds out.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

The allied artillery begins thumping (and long-tomming) away as the two forces advance towards one another. Xwraith grabs a reasonably-sized tree in the Thunderbolt's off-hand, just in case.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The first of the artillery lands, with a Thumper shell pinging some debris off the front of a Vedette.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The brave Ferret zips up, trying to get a look at our units, but is zeroed in by three mechs. It manages to avoid Hyena's PPC and autocannon fire, as well as Scrub's pair of PPC shots, but Cylus drills it with four lasers, cutting it apart in mid-air. Miraculously, the infantry being transported by it survive. Unfortunately for them, it's two squads of infantry against two lances of mechs. Good luck, guys.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

March of the Valkyries (remix featuring DJ AtomicPlasma) being hummed over squad comms announces Delta-One's arrival to the north. They should be joining the sprint forward shortly, while faster enemy units close into LRM range. The allied Firestarter jumps over and fries one of the infantry squads. They actually do ok taking cover against the anti-infantry weapons, but Cylus and the Firestarter pick them off with lasers.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Enemy hovercraft close in to short range, doing a good job of avoiding our fire, a Scimitar scoring a single AC/5 hit on Scrub's Warhammer. The remainder of the infantry is wiped out.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

It's nice to be the swarm for once - the militia units appear to have gotten strung out. They decide to stay at LRM range for the most part, though, exchanging fire with us. The MAC Firestarter takes a few LRMs, while Cylus hits an enemy Stinger with even less.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Here we go. Cylus engages a Stinger, burning armor off of multiple locations with lasers. A Saladin zips by the front, avoiding most weapons fire, except a PPC from Scrub and a laser from Freyland - the latter blasting off a fan, slowing the hovercraft down considerably. Not a good thing to happen to a light hovertank when surrounded by angry mechs. To the west, Xwraith takes the armor off a Clint's right leg with the ER laser.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Archinerd's Dervish is stuck in that swamp pretty good. The Saladin tries to get away, but has both Madmarcus and the allied Firestarter coming after it. The Firestarter gets the kill, burning through the weak side armor and coring out the propulsion system. Madmarcus grumbles something about "kill stealing Capellans" then moves on.

The Stinger jumps in close to Cylus, hoping to ... I'm not sure what. But the consequences are deadly. He pings a few MG rounds off the heaviery mech, then all five of the Grasshopper's lasers connect, and the bug mech's right arm and left leg go limp. Archinerd's LRMs then bore inwards, taking off the other leg and cracking open the right torso as well. As it splashes down into the swamp, the left arm comes off, not leaving very much mech at all. At this point, it's basically just a damaged fusion engine in a box with holes in it.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Technically, we should probably start pulling back. Seeing as how we're inflicting a lot of damage without taking very much in return, and basically have the militia jammed between us and the artillery, which is starting to score some hits, it may be worth it to push them back instead.

The guy in the Stinger powers down and climbs out, staggering away.

Hyena backs up a little to reduce the volume of incoming fire, then his mech staggers as he takes an AC/20 round center of mass. His return fire on the offending Saladin destroys the hovertank, raking it over with slightly smaller autocannon rounds. A Locust runs up to him, and is pegged in the right leg by Scrub firing PPCs - Freyland takes advantage of the weakened limb and saws it off with a laser, sending the bug mech flopping down before it can execute its kick. Madmarcus inflicts some damage on an incoming Condor but it's still functional for now.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

Despite our doing pretty well, we're only getting paid to hold these guys off, not kill all of them, so we start pulling back.

A Long Tom round from the allied artillery dings a trio of Davion mechs pretty good, blasting armor and setting everyone's ears ringing.

Hyena takes several LRMs as he backs up, but nothing breaches armor. Madmarcus jumps forward and sends a six-pack of SRMs at a Condor. Two miss, but the remaining four savage its air ducts, settling the hovercraft down. A Maxim tries to zip by us, firing its weapons after dropping off an infantry platoon, but Freyland zaps it with several lasers. It tries to juke but crashes into a tree. The rest of our units score some hits but nothing critical.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

We cover the MAC guys as they fall back. An artillery barrage comes down between us and the incoming enemy mechs and hovercraft.

A Wasp jumps a little too close to where Xwraith is, so our Thunderbolt comes over. The mech heats up as it alpha strikes, sending an ER laser blast and LRMs to a distant Whitworth, stripping armor, and three lasers at the Wasp, stripping armor. Then, Scrub cores the bug mech out with two PPC shots.

Archinerd targets a Valkyrie across the field, taking out an actuator on its left arm with an LRM.

Round 12:
As we pull back, Cylus opens up on an advancing Valkyrie, causing major damage to both of its arms - actuators pop on the right arm, which will prevent the lighter mech from using the laser there effectively. A Scimitar hovertank avoids a lot of weapons fire, but not the Grasshopper's boot, becoming immobilized. The allied Stinger goes down from a combination of LRM and autocannon fire.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The commander of the attached mechs informs us that the dropship has lifted off and we may disengage. It may be a wise idea, with untouched Davion tracked units rolling up from the south. That crazy Griffin manages to avoid almost all of our fire, except for a laser from Paingod and LRM salvo from Freyland, despite landing in a swamp, then putting some LRMs on Madmarcus.

Round 14+:
We retreat in good order, putting down cover fire as we go. Some long range fire - PPCs and LRMs - singes our armor, but nothing major. The artillery disables one of the pursuing vehicles, a Striker light tank. We send some fire back, the best shot being an LRM salvo by Archinerd which dings a Clint in the head, and pops a pair of actuators along its left leg. We also watch with some amusement as the damaged Valkyrie gets lands on a patch of quicksand and sinks, mother nature overpowering even the Valkyrie's powerful jump jets. That's gonna take them a while to dig out. It takes us another minute or so to clear the field completely before the Davions give up pursuit.

It just goes to show that a well-trained artillery crew can be pretty useful. Not a single friendly fire incident, and they inflicted a bunch of damage.

We used a whole bunch of LRM/5 and LRM/10 ammo on that one, along with plenty of AC/10 ammo, but our damage was very light - nobody even had an armor breach. The MAC guys don't seem *too* upset that they lost their Stinger. Not too hard to understand, it's a bug mech.

En route back to base, everyone (except Alpha-One, they're busy) tunes in to "Air Combat with Ensign Tarquini", an exciting radio program about a mercenary flight leader escorting a Capellan dropship. In this episode, they get swarmed by aircraft operated by planetary militia and have to fight their way out.

Hell yeah, it's a catchy tune. The soundtrack after the intro sucks, though, it's all "crap he's on my tail" and "missile incoming" and "got the bastard".

The dropship is a Triumph-class, packing a lot of forward firepower, but with the usual aerodyne dropship's "weak spot" on the sides, and weaker armament in the back. Escorting it are a trio of Capellan fighters - two Transgressors and a Thrush. Exclusively armed with lasers, which is great for operating "out of supply", but limits the effective combat range a bit. Alpha-Air is a Lucifer, a Stuka and a Shilone. The Stuka is a beast, packing more lasers than you can shake a stick at, ant not enough heat sinks to even fire them all. It also has a single nose-mounted LRM/20 launcher, as does the Shilone.

The liftoff and initial leg of the flight proceed without incident, and then Ensign Tarquini's scope shows a solid wall of red blips coming in from the east. Well, technically cyan, after they don't respond properly to the IFF challenge. We're going to have to punch through and get the dropship all the way to the other side of that mess.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our guys cluster around the dropship.

Rounds 2-5:

Spoiler:

A shot of the opposition. They're broken down into three basic types: the Comet is a light fighter with a single SRM/4 rack. The Guardian has an SRM/6 rack. The Meteor is a bit beefier, with an AC/10 and two SRM/4 racks. There are also a couple of laser-armed ASFs, and a few Defenders with LRM/5s. At least we'll have range advantage. For about ten seconds (a single round), and then their incredibly speed will allow them to close in.

It takes us another half a minute or so to close in to maximum weapons range, as we're trying to stay with the dropship, rather than just go charging in.

The allied Thrush zips in by himself and gets completely blown away. Actually, only a few SRMs hit it, but it's enough damage that the light aerospace fighter nose dives, and we see a little poof on the ground far below a few seconds later.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

A couple of faster enemy units close in to weapons range. The Boeing Jump Bomber actually reads as completely unarmed - normally the idea is that you load it up with a couple of bombs for a quick hit and run, but I'm not sure why it got sent up to do an air interception. We fire some symbolic LRMs, and the Sparrowhawk takes a laser from one of the MAC Transgressors, but stays up in the air.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Suddenly, the comms net explodes with traffic as the bulk of the enemy force closes in to engagement range. Our Lucifer targets a Comet, missing his shots, but hits the jump bomber with small lasers, with one of them giving the pilot a close shave. Our Stuka nails a different Comet, its large lasers blasting through the lighter craft's pitiful armor with ease (and gives a secondary shot to the jump bomber, hitting the pilot again). Our Shilone locks on to a third Comet, annihilating it with LRMs and lasers. While zapping the poor jump bomber with a couple of spare medium lasers.

The jump bomber corkscrews down, and the pilot can't eject fast enough. Not a metaphor.

The allied Transgressors exchange fire with the hostiles as well, taking a non-trivial amount of SRMs while zapping them with lasers. We see a Sparrowhawk dive, although the aero jock doesn't quite crash yet.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"Get that Lightning!" Ens. Tarquini calls out from his Stuka.

Our Lucifer is out of range to do that, but the aero jock does manage to split her fire between a Guardian and a Comet, inflicting damage on both. The Comet spirals downwards. The Stuka whiffs horribly.

The Shilone targets the Hellcat flying wing for the Lightning, the damage causing the aerospace fighter to sputter then nosedive rapidly into the ground far below, where its SRM ammo detonates, creating a spectacular fireball.

The Transgressors continue exchanging fire, somewhat unfavorably, while the dropship joins in and works a Sparrowhawk over with just about every possible kind of weapon.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

The Sparrowhawk that got mangled by the dropship peels off, while a couple of Davion aircraft struggle to avoid hitting the ground.

The Stuka takes some fire from a different Sparrowhawk, but stays level. Our Lucifer blasts away at a pair of conventional fighters, burning chunks off of them with lasers. The Shilone hits a distant Lucifer, causing it to lose elevation.

The Stuka makes up for its lackluster performance last round by getting on the Lightning's tail and hitting it with everything - multiple heat sinks burst, and the aircraft shudders. The Stuka takes a nasty AC/10 hit to the nose, damaging the avionics system.

The dropship blasts a Sparrowhawk as it flies by, sending it into the dirt below. That's three less medium lasers that'll be coming our way.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

This is going to be rough, the Meteors are closing in with their AC/10s. And even worse, they're staggered, so even if someone flies past the first line, they'll get shredded by the second.

The Lucifer's pilot can hear the fighter's structure creaking as he maxes out its velocity to gain altitude and avoid the Meteors' autocannons. She manages to nail one of the meteors from above and behind, the enemy aircraft leaving behind plenty of debris as its engines malfunction, firing off at maximum power to boost it downwards and out of sight.

The Stuka helps out, blasting another Meteor and taking out one of its SRM launchers. We take plenty of counterfire, but our Capellan buddies absorb the worst of it, one of the Transgressors reporting a left wing armor breach before the screaming commences. A Sabre comes corkscrewing downwards out of the furball, trailing smoke and debris as it hits the ground.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

This is looking bad. The other Transgressor can't maintain control of the aircraft either and slams into the ground.

The Lucifer slows down and drops altitude, firing at several fighters, scoring hits on two Meteors and a Defender. One of the Meteors takes an engine hit, while the other loses an SRM launcher. Our fighters takes a couple of shots from a Sparrowhawk.

The Stuka continues working on the out-of-control Lucifer, blasting it with LRMs and lasers, taking out one of its rear-facing weapons.

The Shilone fires LRMs and lasers at the enemy Lightning puncturing the left wing a bit and blowing out a heat sink, but misses another Meteor on its flank, taking an engine hit from an SRM. The Lightning loses altitude, but remains in the air.

The dropship blows away another Meteor outright, while reporting taking light fire. Well, it's not as calm as that, it's more like "escorts are down, mercs are getting pounded, and we're next! Where's the backup?!"

Round 12:

Spoiler:

The Shilone peels off, the engine damage making it impossible to continue manuevering effectively.

The Stuka removes a Meteor from the Triumph's tail, lasers and SRMs hitting the lighter aircraft in the rear, while the Lucifer targets another one, though our fighter takes a hit to the avionics system from some SRMs. Both meteors wind up taking dives but remain un-flattened for now.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The enemy aircraft continue to swarm around the Triumph picking away at its thick armor. Our Lucifer targets the enemy Lightning, inflicting severe internal damage, while the Stuka gets some shots in on the bottom of another Meteor, which explodes twice on the way down. One for each ammo bin, presumably.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Another Meteor breaks up in mid-air as our Lucifer cleaves it in half with lasers. Said Lucifer also spares a pair of lasers for a Defender-class fighter, which lurches and explodes as its LRM ammo goes off. The Stuka takes down another Meteor sending downwards, trailing fire behind it.

Round 15:

Spoiler:

The swarm is starting to thin out a little bit, especially after the Lucifer takes down another Guardian fighter, while the Stuka blasts chunks out of the enemy Lucifer's engine, sending it spinning out of control.

The dropship manages to zap another Meteor out of the sky. It takes its sweet time but eventually crashes.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

There aren't that many fighters chasing the dropship now, but our Lucifer is in trouble - losing altitude and unable to get the engines going again. But, our aero jock puts in one last effort, cycling engine power, and manages to pull up at the last second. She even blasts another Defender fighter out of the sky.

With less than a third of their force remaining active, the Davion units pull back. They just don't have the firepower to bring down the Triumph, and we're whittling them down pretty rapidly. The dropship eventually arrives at what we think is its destination - our units that haven't returned to base are instructed to do so before it even lands. Our aero jocks shrug and zip away.

We do get a chance to have our salvage crews pick over the aircraft wreckage. Nothing survived intact, but we do manage to grab some replacement electronics for our fighters as well as ammo that somehow didn't go off. In addition to letting the Capellans do whatever it is they needed to do, we also took a good chunk out of the local air force, destroying fourteen fighters outright, and leaving eight more or less inoperable without major repairs. Granted, they were crappy conventional fighters for the most part, but still. The MAC grab the rest, their salvage crews glowering at ours the entire time. The two groups barely avoid a fistfight after a couple of our guys make some commentary on the skills of their aero jocks.

Beta, Delta and Gamma-One return to base more or less at the same time. The chatter is lively and upbeat - we really handed those militia guys and Rangers their asses on this one. After some discussion of who's going to watch what and who's buying the aero jocks a beer, the topic turns a little more serious.

"So hey, I've got a question for any Capellans in the group. I got a scan on those boxes we were carrying, and they had these labels on them." Paingod says, sending out a gun camera shot of some squiggly characters. "Anyone have any idea what it means?"

Zenn7 takes a look at it. "Fox's Breath." He chuckles. "It's a figure of speech, you use it to imply that someone's full of crap."

"How's that?" Hyena chimes in.

"Well, you know how Hanse Davion is called 'The Fox'? And is known for his... subtle approach to interstellar diplomacy?" comes the answer.

"So... it's a fart joke?" Paingod asks.

"Nah... " Zenn7 responds. "I don't really do those any more. Not since the banquet incident."

"The banquet incident?"

"Yeah. We never did figure out how they got that much nerve gas into a one-a-day vitamin supplement pill. Killed over five hundred people. And that's before the Maskirovka people started the purges."

As Alpha-One closes in on their designated capture target, trying to sneak up on it, they pick up a transmission on the common frequencies.

"That's a nice Hatchetman, but I think it's time to return it to its rightful place in the Federated Commonwealth. Come on out, we'll make a fight of it!"

Isgrimnur turns his mech towards Gbasden's. The Awesome shrugs, and our Hatchetman lopes off towards the single opponent. He's driving a Kintaro. This is a 55-ton mech known for its horrible heat issues - between the three SRM/6 launchers and the two medium lasers (and the single odd LRM/5), it generates more than twice its heat sinking capability. It's reasonably fast, but has no jump jets.

Which is unfortunate, because the winds have blown the clouds off briefly, and it's a moonlit night. The site of the duel is going to be a medium-sized town. Isgrimnur should be able to run circles around this guy and chop his legs off pretty quickly.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur fires up his jump jets, moving into town and briefly giving away his position.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The Kintaro moves forward, slowly and carefully.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

We're within weapons range, now. Not effective weapons range, though, due to the winds and weird lighting from the local moon(s).

"I thought I recognized that paint job and insignia the last time we met, mechwarrior. You're the Octopus Overlords! What are you guys doing working for this Capellan scum?" comes a short-range transmission.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur shrugs, forgetting that the gesture is meaningless in a mech. "Nothing personal, it's just business." He fires his weapons at the enemy mech, but is unable to land any hits. This will likely be decided up close and personal.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

"Sure." the voice comes back. "But come on. We caught these guys trying to sneak dirty nukes into... uh... Chern... Kern... Chernogr... whatever, stupid Tikonov name anyway. City about two hundred clicks northeast. Beat the crap out of them then. Bet they didn't tell you about their plans, eh? Is it really worth what they're paying you to get a bunch of civilians killed?"

Up and over. The two mechs exchange fire, with the Kintaro taking a full alpha strike and getting knocked over.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

"Don't know what to tell you. We try not to get involved in local politics. They pay C-Bills, we shoot who they tell us."

Isgrimnur hops up, hoping to end the fight quickly with a couple of axe blows, but the Kintaro gets up and moves out of the way of the worst of it. He still takes a headshot from a laser, and an autocannon burst, but ducks under the swinging axe.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"Yeah. I bet that helps you sleep at night. If those Capellans are using nukes, do you really think they're going to actually pay you?"

Isgrimnur briefly jumps away, avoiding the incoming lasers.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"Maybe, maybe not. But I have no reason to believe you."

Isgrimnur charges in, having had enough of this nonsense. The Kintaro sidesteps, firing almost its full load at our mech, peppering the Hatchetman's left side with SRMs. Isgrimnur has the presence of mind to swing the autocannon around to the left. The weapon burps up a string of shells which trails up the enemy mech's left side. The last of the armor flakes off, and a couple of shells strike the LRM ammo bin. Isgrimnur winces as bits of armor and structure bounce off his mech.

Isgrimnur moves his Hatchetman to pick up the ejected mechwarrior as he clambers out of the ejection seat.

"And for the record, I sleep just fine. Unless my burn tissue starts acting up again. But that's enough. I'll be taking you to see my employers now."

The downed mechwarrior shakes his head. "No. You won't." Then draws a sidearm, blowing his brains out.

------------------

We get all our mechs and aerospace fighters fixed up before the next set of sorties, no problem, and nobody got banged up this time out, either. The Capellan liaison is a little bit pissed off that the mechwarrior we were supposed to capture didn't quite make it, but admits there was little we could have done.

There are two main tasks for us this week:

1. Get a reliable count and close-up scans of a particular enemy unit that's been poking around an area designated by the liaison. She'll come out with the lance we send out, and the MAC will provide backup.

2. Relieve a MAC force guarding a heavy anti-air launch site captured earlier in the week. They are expecting an incoming attack and need someone to hold down the fort while they repair and resupply.

Well shit. I was hoping working for this scum wouldn't take a bad turn. That certainly explains the high pay for this mission. Either to compensate for the crappy/illegal duty, or to draw in people and then stick them holding the bag of shit, so to speak.

How badly would this reflect on us if we are caught holding the glowing green box of WMD's? How much cover will the "we just shoot who they tell us" excuse hide us?

"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins

The Capellan Confederation, of all the possibilities, is offering another relief duty contract. We are to travel to Chamdo (a few jumps south of Outreach), rescue elements of McCarron's Armored Cavalry, and help them complete their mission. The amount of money being offered is staggering, and the contract terms are pretty damn good too. Scrub comments that it's probably a trap.

Have we sufficiently rescued McCarron? And what is the mission that we are supposed to complete?